Editor's Note: This article was updated on 3/12 to include additional information from Variety.com.
It's official. Actor Mickey Rourke is confirmed to be appearing as the heavy in 'Iron Man 2'.
A breaking report from the Hollywood Reporter states that the actor, who is enjoying a career resurgence after his critcally-acclaimed leading role in 'The Wrestler', has signed on as "a russian villain."
Mania readers know well that Rourke was tipped for the part back in early January. Just weeks later rumors circulated later that negotiations between the actor and Marvel had gotten rocky, with the studio reportedly low-balling him on his paycheck. Since then the actor's status in the film has seemed doubtful.
Now, apparently all doubts have been erased and Rourke is on board. It still remains to be seen if Rourke is playing Iron Man's armored nemesis The Crimson Dynamo (as most fans are hoping) or the lesser villain Whiplash (as previously claimed the The Hollywood Reporter). Updated: Variety reports that the character will be a hybrid of the two but will be called Whiplash.
Marvel has been stung by several instance of being penny wise and pound-foolish about the sequel to the film that put them on the map as a stand-alone studio. Jon Favreau publicly insinuated that the studio was balking at signing him on the sequel. Then actor Terrence Howard parted with the franchise over money issues. Samuel L. Jackson came right out and said they were being cheap about bringing him back as Nick Fury. Then the Rourke rumors began.
Update: Variety confirms that salary was, indeed, the sticking point and Rourke's reps at ICM were able to get his paycheck above the reported quarter million that Marvel initially offered. Another factor appears to have been Rourke's frequent encounters with Robert Downey Jr. on the awards circuit earlier this year.
To their credit, Marvel has resolved all conflicts except for Howard's, bringing Favreau back into the fold last year, signing Jackson to an amazing 9-picture deal and now getting Rourke to suit up.
What do you think, Maniacs? Are we having fun yet? Post your comments below...
I couldn't care less if Mickey was cast or not...But I am glag that he got picked so that people...not necessarily on this site can stop bitching and crying about it. Same goes for the Sam Jackson new except for I actually cared (a little bit) if Sam returned.
I wonder if this proves that Howard's ordeal wasn't about money afterall?
Crimsom Dynomo or Titanium Man would make happy. Hell Iron Man 2 is gonna make me happy
Micky Rourke!! Sweeettt.......
What's it gonna look like when IRON MAN socks him in the face and gives him a fat lip?? HAHAHA
Hello? Testing? Is the site back in working condition?
Variety is saying the following on Rourke: "He'll play Whiplash, a character that includes elements from that comicbook villain and Crimson Dynamo, another Russian baddie." WTF does that mean? Are they combining the two into 1, I don't get it.
I don't see this bit posted anywhere here either, but apparently Scarlett Johanssen has been officially confirmed for the role also, saw it in a couple of sites.
Now check this, I think Rourke for whatever they gonna use him for in IM2 is sweet but I also read this piece of news and now I don't want Rourke for IM2. Apparently the dude was being talked about as being the villain for Spider-Man 4. If it's true then that means that either Kraven or Rhino are gonna be in the new Spidey flick. Rourke would own as Kraven. Hopefully they are doing Kraven/Lizard combo that'd be hellasweet. I think AICN has the link to that info.
Finally, on unrelated news but still comic related, some dude (forgot the link so can't point u guys to it) posted an early review of the Wolverine flick (the site claims it's a legit source) and he said *****spoilers**** that the weird albino dude shooting lasers from his eyes in the trailer is indeed Deadpool who has been used by Stryker to create an ultimate weapon by injecting him with different mutant dna, at this point in the flick is where he'll have his mouth shut.*****end spoiler*** Anyway the dude said the flick was good.
sorry Hanso, you dont get good karma when you expect it. So no love for asking for it. As for Wolverine, I pretty much hate most comic book movies (except Iron Man, Sin City, Superman and a couple others), being that I love comic books and Wolverine is my favorite character ever, but since I already know how much they're fucking the story up, I'm actually kind of looking forward to this one. I may not get the costume, but at least hes not wearing that stupid black leather crap. I love Tim Burton, but will forever curse him for making Hollywood think super-heroes need to wear black leathery body armor. Oh yeah, and if Sabretooth is Logan's father or brother (im sure he will be) in the movie, that'l suck ass too. Logan's father was the drunken gardener, sticking it to "soft John's" wife. I loved that shit in Origin. Guess we'll know soon enough!
Hanso, I thought the albino dude was Omega Red.
Mickey Rourke as Kraven would be sweet, Terrence howard was always too effeminate for me to take him seriously.
Guess I must not love comics enough...OR I'M A FUCKING REALIST, and realize that comics are an entirely different medium than film, and you cannot translate it letter for letter to the big screen.
And in most cases there are 30 years of F-ed up continuity and implied origins, and storylines that can all be drawn from to create these movies.
The black leather in X-men was wayy cooler than "Yellow Spandex" and it was drawn from the comics, ULTIMATE X-MEN, an X-men comic, the last time I checked.
I hold my critisisms unti I see it, and even then you cannot go into a theater expecting an exact translation, unless you like bitching. AND it's not exclusive to comics, the same thing goes for books. Who cares judge a movie on the movie, not on the 30 years of convoluted and sometimes silly storylines.
AND Origins pretty much implies Sabertooth and Logan are Brothers...
(I'm in a ranting mode today)
Hanso, props for the heads up, not sure how I feel about that being deadpool, but I'll hold my judgemment, and I'm glad that he said it's a good movie.
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Glad that Rourke is the main villian. Now I just hope that he's playing the Crymson Dynamo, and not whiplash. Because I know Toy Stark revealed himself as IronMan at the end of the first movie, but it would just be boring and stupid to see Stark get beaten up without his armor. If marvel wants a blockbuster, then they should show two guys in armored suits having a high-tech battle.